Alternate Termination
by MelodyAnne
Summary: SEQUEL TO ALTERNATE EXISTENCE and ALTERNATE INFATUATION. Sydney and Michael finally had a perfect life. A real family with no lies. Friends who knew the truth. And then they lost it all. To save it all.[COMPLETE]
1. Emotion Is Okay

Alternate Termination

Sequel to Alternate Existence and Alternate Infatuation. _Sydney and Michael finally had a perfect life. A real family with no lies. Friends who knew the truth. And then they lost it all._

Chapter 1: Emotion Is Okay

Disclaimer: Alias is not mine. Characters from Alias are not mine. I claim full creative possession of Jeffrey, Misty, and Alex, though! The plot here is mine, too…this far into an original plot strand, there are very few parallels to the real thing. Seriously, for every page of this story I wrote, I have pages of notes for references to relations, names, dates, times, ages…

* * *

Weiss sat alone in his apartment, the only light from a nightlight coming through the cracked bedroom door. For the first time in months, he gave in to the memories that were almost always with him, in the back of his mind. The images assaulted him, first a series of still, frozen images, then the whole scene replayed itself before his unseeing eyes. 

He didn't realize a tear had escaped from his eye until the column of light widened to hit him in the face. A stubby little figure appeared, silhouetted in the light.

Weiss hurriedly wiped the tear away and regaled the memory of his best friends' deaths back to that little locked box he'd created in the back of his mind.

"What's up, big guy?" he asked quietly.

The figure moved into the living room, and once the light was no longer behind him Weiss could see he'd been crying.

"Come 'ere, buddy," he said, pulling the little boy up into his lap. "What's wrong? Did you have a bad dream?"

The little boy shook his head.

"Unka' Eric, tell me about my mommy and daddy," he begged softly. "Unka' Jeffy says I'm too little."

"What do you want me to tell you?" Weiss asked carefully, not sure he was up to telling a four-year-old how his parents had died only a year ago.

Especially when Alex Vaughn's parents were his best friends and fellow agents.

"I'm not a dummy, Unka Eric. I know Mommy and Daddy died. But I don't un'erstand. Unka Jeffy won't tell me nothin'."

Weiss took a deep breath and sighed. He'd seen a CIA counselor after Sydney and Vaughn had died, and he'd taken some of the things the woman had said to heart. It had to be better for Alex to know more than he was really ready for than for him to wake up like this because he didn't know enough.

"I'm not sure this is a very good bedtime story, buddy," he said finally, trying to figure out how to romanticize the whole mess as much as possible for the little boy.

"I wanna know, Unka Eric," Alex said solemnly, twisting to look up at him.

"Well, it happened while we were working," Weiss began. Alex had never known-or hadn't been able to understand-what his parents or his Unka Eric really did. "We were a long way away, in France. All of us-me, and your mommy and daddy-knew something was wrong. There were some bad people in the building…" No small boy needed to know that they were new henchmen of Khasinau. "We got separated. Or, I got separated from your mom and dad. Everything went wrong." Weiss paused for a moment to gather his mental control. Emotion was okay; a complete breakdown would scare the hell out of Alex. "I got out. We knew there were explosives…You know what those are, right?"

"Bombs," Alex said softly, enthralled with the story.

"Yeah. Well, they were everywhere. I thought they were out, too, but I turned around right before the bombs went off, and I saw them. Alex, your mommy and daddy knew they were going to die. They hugged each other, and before I lost sight of them, I saw them kiss." Weiss grinned, glad to know that he didn't have to romanticize a damn thing about this part. "Buddy, I wasn't sure whether it was that earth shattering kiss between Vaughn and Syd or the bomb that shook the ground then."

Alex was silent, absorbing this new information that his legal guardians had denied him, and Weiss fought off a rare bout of depression with the thought of what Vaughn and Sydney had shared in their last moments.

"Why do you call my daddy Vaughn?" Alex asked suddenly. "You don't call me or my mommy that. Unka Jeffy and An' Missy call him Michael."

Weiss shrugged.

"I just do, Alex. He called me Weiss most of the time, and I called him Vaughn." Weiss grinned. "All right, enough stories, buddy. Time for bed. Jeff will be here to get you early in the morning."

Alex nodded sedately, his eyelids already heavy.

"Will you tuck me in, Unka Eric?"

"Sure, buddy. Of course I will."

* * *

Okay, what do you think? Subsequent chapters will be a lot longer and a lot less cryptic, I promise, but this introduces my main ideas. You know, where all my characters are. 


	2. He Still Remembers

Alternate Termination

Sequel to Alternate Existence and Alternate Infatuation. _Sydney and Michael finally had a perfect life. A real family with no lies. Friends who knew the truth. And then they lost it all._

Chapter 2: He Still Remembers

Disclaimer: No, Alias is not mine. Nor is Sydney, nor Vaughn, nor Irina, nor Jack, nor Khasinou, nor Kendall. But Jeffrey is! He's all mine! No touchy!

A/N: Natalie, if you're going to keep blatantly stateing my plot lines to those slower than you for all to see, I'm going to have to ask you to leave. Which, ya know, should really tell you how close you are!

A/N: vaughn is hot, Khasinou never died, and, while it's entirely possible that I'm wrong, I think I clearly stated (Or, will state, at least) somewhere that Irina and Khasinou escaped the CIA takedown of the New York cell of the KGB. And nobody said Irina killed them! (Sorry, that was necessary...Seriously, what has gotten into you people? Making assumptions, jumping to comclusions...one would think ya'll were avid Alias watchers...

A/N: i love vaughn and syd, I promise, more info is coming, but not as much of it in the form of flashbacks as should be because all the italics were confusing as hell...

* * *

Jeff drove through the heavy morning LA traffic, the radio blaring. He and Misty had been up most of the night with the baby. They'd known they would be; that was why they'd sent Alex to Weiss for the night. Alex loved Emily as much as any of them, but she'd been teething, and she had an ear infection, and their baby had kept them all up for three days. Alex had already been put in time-out by his-in Misty's opinion-_domineering_ preschool teacher the day before because he'd fallen asleep during story time. The poor kid needed a break. 

That was why Jeff was battling early morning traffic on zero sleep to pick him up. He only hoped the blaring rock music and three cups of coffee would keep him wired.

Alex was doing so well, really. Jeffrey smiled. He remembered when he and his new wife had taken him in. Sydney and Michael had wanted it that way, and damn it all to hell if he and Misty could go against that.

They'd been devastated when Weiss-who'd been in a pretty bad state at the time himself-had given them the news. Jeff and Misty, even though they were just dating when they moved to LA, had been close to Sydney and Michael. When Alex was born, they'd all crowded in at the maternity ward window-Jeffrey, Misty, Weiss, Vaughn, and even Jack-to see the new baby.

Then they'd all tromped into Sydney's room, and the poor nurse that was supposed to be attending Sydney hadn't been able to get to her. She and Michael had been so proud of that little red-faced baby. Alex had four big fluffy teddy bears before he could even work his little hands to grab them.

Alex had been three when his happy parents had died. Jeff had been worried about Sydney going back into the field when Alex was one, but he knew that it was practically all Sydney had ever known. She had to go back. That was just who she was.

Jeff and Misty had taken Alex in, and made him their own. Less than a month after they'd taken Alex, Misty had discovered she was pregnant. Emily had been a fluke. Misty and Jeff had discussed children, of course, and even wanted them, but in the future. Not now. They didn't plan to suddenly have a three-year-old little boy and be expecting a baby girl. But they were happy.

And Alex loved his Emmy. They were a family. Jeff and Misty and Alex and Emily.

Jeff frowned when Weiss pulled him aside after Alex ran to get the red nylon backpack he carried everywhere. He didn't like when Weiss got that guilty look in his eye.

"Man, I can't believe you refused to tell him what happened," Weiss said. "Alex is four. He knows his parents are dead, but he didn't understand. You could have told him _something_."

Jeffrey shook his head.

"All I know is what you told me." Jeff felt the sting all over again as he remembered Weiss telling him, half-crazed and hysterical, that Sydney and Vaughn were dead. "That wasn't fit for Alex."

"He asked me last night…" Weiss trailed off,those plaintive green eyes haunting him.

"Eric!" Jeff growled. "What did you _tell him_?"

"Man, I just told the kid the truth." Weiss held up a hand before Jeff could yell. "The kid needs to know what happened, okay? I didn't tell him about the job, or Khasinau, or any of that. But I told him the truth."

"He's four, Eric. He'll have nightmares for _weeks_…"

"I didn't tell him like I told you, alright? I'm okay now. We both know I wasn't then. The thing is, now he knows how they died, and he needs that."

Jeffrey was quiet for a long moment.

"When Syd first got involved with the KGB," he began quietly, a pained look on his face. "They killed our friend because they thought Sydney told her. Jessie. For a couple days, nobody told me how she died. Just the she died. At first…me and Jessie always loved Syd's mom. This was before we knew what the KGB really was, and…Syd's mom was the one who finally told me what had really happened. I guess Syd knew and just assumed I did too. A lot of stuff that week isn't really clear. I was _sixteen_, Eric, and knowing one of my best friends was shot in the head in her own bedroom gave me nightmares for years. I was still waking up in a cold sweat my first three years of college. I won't…I didn't want Alex to go through the same thing."

Weiss shook his head.

"I'm sorry. But it's already done. He woke up in the middle of the night to ask me about it, Jeff," he added. "I think the damage was done either way."

Jeff appeared to be ready to retort, but Alex appeared tentatively with his backpack.

"Did I do something bad?" he asked, looking from one to the other.

Jeff and Weiss swapped a quick look as Jeff leaned down to give Alex a quick reassuring hug.

"No, of course not," he said, smiling. "Uncle Eric and I were just talking about how much fun you guys had last night."

"Yeah!" Alex perked up instantly. "He's so _cool_! Can I stay the night with Unka Eric _again_?" he begged.

Weiss ruffled the little boy's uncombed hair.

"We'll see, kiddo," he laughed.

* * *

Misty was standing at the door with a comb and a wet washcloth when Jeff pulled up in the driveway. Misty had insisted the previous day that Eric Weiss was incapable of getting Alex ready for school. Although Jeff had argued at the time, he realized she was probably right. The thick smear of what appeared to be chocolate ice cream on Alex's cheek proved her point.

Misty's light brown hair was piled haphazardly on top of her head and loosely pinned in place, a remnant of a night of a crying three-month-old baby. Alex let loose a mock scream when he saw the comb in her hand and darted past her through the door, clutching his backpack. Jeff laughed as the backpack went flying and Misty snatched him up with one arm, wiping at the chocolate smear with the other.

"Look at you!" Misty said delightedly. "You're a mess! I told Jeffy your Uncle Eric doesn't know anything about keeping little boys!"

Alex wriggled appropriately, laughing as he tried to pull away.

Emily started crying in her playpen in the living room and provided the distraction Alex needed to escape.

"Emmy!" he laughed, skidding to a stop to hang over the edge of the playpen to snag a slobbery pink bunny to wave for Emily. "Hey, Emmy, look at this!"

Misty stopped in the doorway, smiling. Jeffrey stepped in beside her, his arm around her waist.

"We're his family," Misty whispered wistfully.

Jeff understood what she meant. They'd all been so close to Sydney and Michael; no one wanted Alex to forget them.

"Baby, he may look at you as him mom, but he still remembers Syd." He brushed a strand of hair off of her face affectionately. "He asked Eric about them last night. He told him how they died."

"What?" Misty hissed.

"No…babe, I think Eric was right. Alex needed to know something about it. And honestly, Eric seemed better today. You know how he's been since they died. I've been scared for him ever since the CIA re-field rated him. He seems okay now, and Alex knows the truth…it'll all be okay."

Misty looked affectionately at the dark haired little boy trying so hard to get his surrogate baby sister to stop crying. She had no idea where he'd gotten such a dark shock hair.

"He's just so little," misty said, reluctantly pushing way from the doorframe and out of Jeff's embrace. "I know he can't really understand it _all_, but I just don't know what to tell him."

* * *

Okay, was that better? Longer, at least. Still a lot of cryptic mess, and a lot of just background stuff that I have to have in there for the whole rest of this to make any sense whatsoever. So, review please! I don't update without reviews! 


	3. This Is Bigger

Alternate Termination

Sequel to Alternate Existence and Alternate Infatuation. _Sydney and Michael finally had a perfect life. A real family with no lies. Friends who knew the truth. And then they lost it all._

Chapter 3: This Is Bigger

Disclaimer: No, Alias is not mine. Nor is Sydney, nor Vaughn, nor Irina, nor Jack, nor Khasinou, nor Kendall. But Jeffrey is! He's all mine! No touchy!

* * *

"I want Alex Vaughn.

"He is descended from a very important asset that this agency was unable to attain years ago. The original subject obtained CIA protection, and the caretakers of the child maintain those ties. He also may prove difficult to get to."

"How many agents are you talking about, sir?"

"At this point, two. One active, field rated, one a desk agent, formerly field rated."

"Take out the guardians?"

"Not necessary. Jeffrey Lexington is a stockbroker. Misty, his wife, is a kindergarten teacher, currently staying at home with her baby."

"There's a baby?"

"Yes. The nursury is at the opposite end of the hall from the child's room. Shouldn't be a problem."

"What about the active agent?"

"He doesn't frequent the Lexington home."

* * *

Misty bounced her squalling baby daughter in the dark nursery until she quieted down. Misty knew every nuance of that little pale pink room. She'd decorated it herself. She didn't need a light. 

When Emily finally drifted back to sleep, Misty couldn't bring herself to go back to bed. In some deep, instinctual way, she wanted to watch her baby. Her senses were on high alert, but she heard nothing out of place.

Jeffrey, lying alone in the cozy king sized bed he and Misty shared, tensed as he realized the soft noise he'd heard was definitely not his wife walking with Emily in the nursery. It had come from the other direction down the hallway.

He slipped silently from his bed and opened the cabinet built into the wall that was too high for Alex to reach. He kept his gun there, the one that he'd purchased the same day he'd gotten out of the hospital after being nabbed by SD-6. One Saturday a month for the past six years had been spent at a public shooting range practicing with the weapon. Waiting for this night.

He thumbed the safety off and palmed pistol. Not a very accurate weapon, but if he ever used it he planned to be close enough that it wouldn't make any difference.

Alex's night-light shone through the cracked door, tossing a stream of light onto the floor. In the light, Jeff could see a shadow. His heart leapt to his throat. Alex was _his_…how dare anyone…

Jeff peeked past the doorframe and saw a figure plunge a needle into Alex's arm and inject some liquid into him before Jeffrey had a chance to react.

When he did, he swung open the door and fired once toward the intruder, who ducked and rolled away just in time. Jeff caught a glimpse of his face before he dove out of the second story window. Jeff froze for an instant.

The man had interrogated Jeff at SD-6.

He didn't bother to go after the agent; he'd never catch him. He was far more concerned with Alex.

The little boy hadn't awakened when the gun was fired. Jeff could hear Emily squalling and Misty rushing down the hall with her, but Alex hadn't even flinched. Jeff tossed the gun onto the end table and knelt to press his fingers to Alex's neck. His pulse was still strong, but who knew what drugs he'd been given or what effects they'd have?

"Misty, get the phone. Call Eric," Jeffrey said before she'd even gotten in the door.

"But…" She juggled the baby from one hip to the other nervously. "Jeff, I heard a gun…"

"I'm fine, Alex was drugged._ Call Weiss_."

It was the first time Jeff had ever referred to the man as Weiss. Sydney and Vaughn had called him that when it was connected to the CIA. Almost unconsciously, his statement had the desired effect.

Jeff wrapped Alex up in the blanket from his bed and lifted him, tucking the gun into the back of the waistband of his jeans.

Misty was talking to Eric as Jeff laid Alex on the couch.

"Eric, there was someone in our house…he shot him…they drugged Alex…"

Jeff took the phone from her, gently prying it from her fingers.

"Eric? He was SD-6...No, I shot _at_ him...He was trying to take Alex…I don't know! May be for the same reason they wanted Syd! Hell…you've got doctors on staff out there, right?...Yeah, medical doctors. The guy drugged Alex, I don't know with what…damn it, I don't care, just meet us there!" Jeff threw down the phone and turned to his wife.

"Get Emily's things, I'll get Alex's. Necessities only. Get some stuff for yourself. I don't know how long we'll be gone, Miss," he added before she could ask.

"What are we doing, Jeff?"

"Eric's meeting us at the JTF building tonight. They'll protect Alex and Emily. Alex is one of their own…if anything Syd and Michael ever told me is true, they'll take care of him."

"What about…" Misty began.

"Misty, come on, we don't have time for this now." Leaving Alex on the couch, he headed back up the stairs. "We'll be okay, baby. Just go."

Misty nodded.

"This isn't fair, Jeffrey," she murmured quietly, glancing back over her shoulder at Alex and bouncing to keep Emily happy. "This just isn't fair."

* * *

Misty stood looking through the small window in the door to the lounge Director Kendall had, at Eric's beseeching, allowed to be used for Alex and Emily's stay. Emily now slept in her infant seat on the table, and Alex was on the couch with his bedspread thrown over him and his red backpack on the floor beside him. Eric had assured Misty and Jeff that the doctor had assured _him_ that it was only a mild sedative that the intruder had injected Alex with. He'd sleep for a while, but there would be no side effects. 

The lounge was sparsely furnished, but at least it wasn't as bare as the rest of the building. Or, at least what she'd seen of it. There were very few agents in the part they were in, aside from Eric and the director.

Misty had been too worried about Alex when they'd first arrived to pay much attention to what Jeff and the director had been saying, but Jeff had seemed at least minimally familiar with him. When had they met? Did that only mean Sydney had a history with Director Kendall, of had Jeffrey been in contact with him at some time?

Damn espionage, she thought, turning to follow Jeff back to Kendall's office for an official debrief. She was realizing more and more that she didn't know quite as much about the part of Jeff's life that included Syd and New York Cityas she'd thought. She certainly didn't know anything about Sydney's life before they'd met. She'd asked Jeff once, why Sydney never talked about her childhood, or her college days, and why she seemed to be such an important agent even though she was so young. Misty had been student teaching at the time. Jeff had only said that Sydney had been a spy for a long time, and circumstances had forced her to be the best.

Insecurity had never been her biggest weakness. As a child, Misty had been the one that, if she fell face first in the mud at recess, she'd roll over and belaughing as hard as anyone. But realizing how little she knew about her friends, and how much she didn't know about her husband, left her feeling out of place.

In the office waiting for them were Kendall and Eric, and Jack. Apparently, someone had forwarded the alarm to him.

Jack, Misty reflected, was a man liked by none and respected by few. But Alex adored him, and through watching his with the little boy, she'd come to understand him. Behind his stony gaze and steel gray eyes now, for example, she could see the concern. He saw her watching him and offered a half-smile of comfort as she took a seat next to Jeffrey.

"They'll just keep coming back," Jeff was saying beside her. "I don't know why now, but they'll be back."

Kendall nodded precisely.

"Arvin Sloane discovered the death of his mother. He hopes Alex will possess what he failed to acquire from Sydney."

"That damn code?" Jeff burst out.

"Sloane adamantly believes in Rambaldi's work," Jack spoke up. "A lot of past discoveries have been based on heredity. Based on the idea that Sydney knew the code, he believes Alex will too."

"Does everyone know about this Rambaldi but me?" Misty snapped out. "Alex is like my own child…somebody better tell me something," she threatened.

Jack looked at Jeffrey.

"You didn't tell her…"

"Misty, this guy, Sloane, he heads a criminal organization," Jeff broke in, giving Jack a quick discouraging glance. " Sydney was captured by him once because he believed she was the woman referred to in a 300-year-old prophecy written by Milo Rambaldi. He believed she knew a computer code that would allow him to control all existing technology with one singleprogram."

It was not lost on Jack, or Weiss, or Kendall that Jeffrey left out the part about being kidnapped himself from Sydney's apartmentshortly thereafter as bait.

"But Alex is still a _baby_…"

"Doesn't matter," Kendall said. "The subject would have to be reduced to an almost catatonic state to access the information. Age isn't an obstacle."

Jeffrey rose and paced to the door, then paused and put a hand to his temple.

"We…Alex is in trouble."

He turned to face everyone.

"I can't protect him any more. This is bigger than me, Director."

Kendall nodded.

"Agent Weiss will take you back to the children. I'll make arrangements."

* * *

Oh-ho, what now, skeptics? Lol. Our Jeffrey hath surrendered to the fact that he's not a big bad CIA agent like Syd and Michael...what will they do about it? Hehe...ya'll are so gonna hate me when I reveal the real plot line of this fic... 


	4. Two Minutes

Alternate Termination

Sequel to Alternate Existence and Alternate Infatuation. _Sydney and Michael finally had a perfect life. A real family with no lies. Friends who knew the truth. And then they lost it all._

Chapter 4: Two Minutes

Disclaimer: No, Alias is not mine. Nor is Sydney, nor Vaughn, nor Irina, nor Jack, nor Khasinou, nor Kendall. But Jeffrey is! He's all mine! No touchy!

A/N: vaughn is hot, may be I should have clarified what I meant by that a little more. I meant more along the lines of liked by none, ungrudgingly respected...ect. Everybody kinda kicks themselves for respecting him sometimes, ya know? And even though my character recognizes him as human, that doesn't mean she likes him...Misty may be a kinda stock character, but she's not stupid...Okay, yeah, I know how stupid that sounded. I just don't care right now!

A/N: Natalie, _THAT'S A BAD MR._ _KITTY!_ Don't ask,_ I'm_ not even exactly sure where that came from, it just sounds funny. You _must_ be punished...Hmmm...I need a beta reader...wink wink...That might be appropriate torture...And, I haven't divided all the chapters up exactly yet, but we're looking at around 5 or 6.

* * *

"Why can't I go outside, An' Missy?" Alex begged again, pulling on the hem of her t-shirt. "Where's all my toys?" 

"We have to stay inside, sweetie," Misty said gently, untangling his fingers from her shirt. "You heard Mr. Kendall. Nobody can know we're here, and if we go outside someone will see us. Okay?"

"Okay," Alex said disgustedly, wandering off to pout by himself.

Jeffrey was pacing the kitchen of the CIA safe house frantically. His forehead was all wrinkled up, his hands twisted behind his back except when he reached up to yank both of them through his hair.

"Jeff, honey, why don't you sit down?" Misty pleaded as she tried to hold Emily, get her bottle ready, and avoid Jeff all at once. "You're making me nervous."

Jeffrey stopped to turn and look at Misty.

"I feel like I'm letting them down," he said desperately. "Syd and Michael. They trusted us with Alex, and now we're on the run. Miss, this is exactly what they _didn't_ want for Alex."

Misty laid Emily carefully in her car seat-which they'd sat on the table-and turned to wrap her arms around him.

"Honey, we're doing the best we can. They left Alex with us because they knew we'd do everything we could to protect him. That's all they wanted, Jeff. For us to take care of him."

"What if our best isn't good enough?" Jeff murmured, laying his cheek against the top of Misty's head. He could just catch a whiff of strawberry scented shampoo.

The sound of feet stopping just inside the kitchen doorway shook them out of the momentary reprieve they'd found. A woman Misty had never seen before stood in the doorway, watching as they broke apart.

The woman had an apprehensive look on her face, and seemed almost weary of Jeffrey.

"Please don't scream," she said quietly. "I'm not here to hurt anyone."

Jeff's face was hard when Misty looked back at him, and she could see just a trace of fear in his eyes. Why was he afraid of this woman? Who was she?

"Jeff? Who is this? What's wrong?" she demanded, never turning completely away from the brown-haired woman. Was she SD-6? Had they already gotten Alex? But then, why would Jeffrey know her?

"She's not SD-6," Jeff said, his tone far from soothing, but calm. "This woman is former Russian KGB."

"And...Sydney's mother," the woman added softly, may be even regretfully.

Misty started to speak, but Jeff beat her to it, almost as if he knew what she wanted to ask and tried to stop her.

"What do you want?" he demanded.

"Alex," she said timidly. "I want to keep him safe. I know you are here because there was an attempt to..."

"Hell no!" Misty snapped, instantly furious. "I don't know where you came from, but Alex is like my son! My own son!"

Jeff placed a restraining hand on her shoulder when he feared she might advance.

"How do I know you weren't behind the attack on Alex? Only the CIA knew about it. How did you find out?" Jeff demanded calmly. He wasn't concerned that she had someone else grabbing Alex. He'd kept tabs on her, via Eric, since Syd had been attacked by SD-6. Irina Derevko was not a woman to be trusted, but she'd worked alone ever since Syd had revealed she'd been a double agent for the CIA all along.

Irina stood her ground, but her posture slipped into the more comfortable stature of the woman Jeff had grown up knowing as Laura Bristow.

"I loved Sydney, and the only way I could keep her with me was to agree to train her. I hoped to get out before she reached eighteen. But he demanded to begin sooner. Khasinou was a very powerful man. If I'd refused then, he'd have killed Sydney, more horribly than he did Jessica."

Irina realized immediately that she'd make a mistake mentioning the girl, and she paused to allow Jeffrey to rail at her as she was sure he would.

"Khasinou _was_ powerful?" was all he said.

Irina nodded.

"He was killed three months ago."

Jeffrey glared at her. Yes, he _definitely_ realized _she_ had been the one to kill him.

"If Sydney knew the whole truth, I know she'd want me to protect Alex. I'm the only one who can hide from...Sloane," she finished, unsure how much Jeffrey knew about the man.

Jeffrey closed his eyes for a moment as if resisting the urge to strangle her, then turned to Misty.

"Miss, take Emily and make sure Alex stays where he is. I need to have a word with _Mrs. Bristow_." He cast a wary eye her way as he put a sarcastic emphasis on the name.

"But Jeff, I..."

"Misty, it's okay. Just go, please."

"Misty hesitated. There were things Jeff hadn't told her, she knew that. He'd explained to her that many secrets he kept about the time between when they met and the time he was sixteen were mostly Sydney's secrets. But if Sydney's secrets threatened the little boy she loved so much, and potentially her husband, she had a right to...

"Misty, I'll explain everything later. Take care of Alex," Jeff begged.

Jeff watched as his wife gave a little shake of her head and walked past Derevko and out the door.

"My wife doesn't know, as I'm sure you _do_, that I was held by Sloane. She doesn't know who you are or what you did to Sydney, and she sure as hell doesn't know what Sydney went through to get away from you. Sydney rightfully wanted every damn thing about you to stay as far in the past as possible, even when she rejoined the CIA. She opted to leave her previous file sealed. You will _not_ show up and threaten the child she worked so hard to protect, nor my family."

Irina could almost see the smoke pouring from Jeffrey's ears, but she ducked her head with the appropriate remorse for disturbing them now.

"I was glad when Sydney got out. I was never even saw it coming, and I've never been so proud of her as when I saw her holding a gun to my secretary's head demanding to know where I was." A small smile crossed her face.

Jeffrey remembered the night after the CIA takedown. He'd had no idea that anything had even happened.

It was raining cats and dogs; it had been all day. The rain was pouring, and it was thundering and lightning like nothing. The iffy electricity in the old dorm house Jeff shared with almost a dozen other guys had finally gone out, and six of them had pooled their selection of flashlights and battery-powered lanterns in the common room. When the almost timid knock sounded on their front door, Jeff was somehow commissioned to go see who it was.

Armed with a flashlight, he'd opened the door to find Sydney, dripping wet, with no sign of a car behind her, standing on his step.

"I ran," she offered when she saw him looking behind her blankly.

"You're soaked," he said finally, grabbing her arm to pull her inside. The dean would have a fit if he found out, but only a fool would be out in this weather.

So what was Sydney doing here?

He gave her a pair of his sweatpants and a t-shirt to change into to get her out of her wet clothes-which didn't seem to phase her, even as she stood there shivering-before retreating to the kitchen with a single flashlight.

Before Jeff could even ask her what was wrong, Syd broke down, and cried, and told him everything she hadn't been able to in the last year and a half that she hadn't seen him.

She told him in horrifying detail about the takedown, about seeing all those people she'd pretended to work with being shot or cuffed and dragged away, and about seeing her mother smile back at her before the woman had pulled off a Houdini-like disappearance.

May be Irina Derevko had given him a genuine glimpse into her persona…but then again, he didn't trust her with the truth anymore than he'd trusted a rabid dog with a small child.

"If you're not gone in two minutes, I'm alerting the CIA," he said calmly, clearly signaling the end of their impromptu tête-à-tête.

* * *

Hehe…to all those who wanted Irina, you've got here! I killed Khasinou, of course, because I never really liked him, but anyway. Ya'll are still gonna kill me later, but for now, you're happy, right? Review please! 


	5. Topaz and Silver

Alternate Termination

Sequel to Alternate Existence and Alternate Infatuation. _Sydney and Michael finally had a perfect life. A real family with no lies. Friends who knew the truth. And then they lost it all._

Chapter 5: Topaz and Silver

Disclaimer: No, Alias is not mine. Nor is Sydney, nor Vaughn, nor Irina, nor Jack, nor Khasinou, nor Kendall. But Jeffrey is! He's all mine! No touchy!

A/N: Sorry this took me so long to undate! Well, long for me. My boss is working my ass off, five days a weeks when I'm only supposed to be working three...I'll do the best I can to get the next chapter up soon!

A/N: Looks at Nat like she's a hyper four year old Uh…no. _My kitty _is an incorrect use of the phrase…if it's not BAD MR. KITTY! then it's just not the same…But, let me know when you get your e-mail figured out and I'd be honored to get a beta reader! I'm extremely lax when it comes to proofreading my own stuff, and my best friend claims to not have the time to read all my stuff right now (she'll read it this summer 'cause I'll make her!) so my stuff rarely gets proofed.

A/N: s, I'll let you know when we get to the part that I think ya'll will kill me for…Oh, whoops…I just realized what this chapter consists of…ya'll will, I think, progressively kill me for the next, oh, three chapters, I believe. Enjoy!

A/N: One more thing. A huipil, by definition, is a hand-woven blouse worn by girls in Mexico in which the colors and patterns represent ties to their village, ect. Use your imagination, okay?

* * *

Kendall was alone in his office, working on some case files, when the phone rang.

"Kendall," he answered briskly.

"Director," a familiar voice said. "I have some intel you might find curious."

"How did you get past my secretary with that cryptic bullshit?"

"Sorry, man," the voice guffawed. "This is Antonio Verdes."

Ah, one of those annoying superior types who stayed on your ass for five years then retired to Mexico and thinks you're best buddies. Although, Verdes had proven a useful contact on several occasions.

"Yeah, how's Mexico?" Kendall asked. He could afford a few minutes to placate the man.

"Well, seems to be crawling with your agents. Dead ones."

"There's that bullshit again."

"Right. Well, I was in Mexico City the other-well, last night, and I would swear-those agents listed as dead a month after I left-These people looked just like 'em. Bristow's daughter…Sydney. And Michael. Vaughn," Verdes elaborated.

A little too much tequila, Kendall decided. Too bad the man was still completely lucid.

"I'll look into it," he promised

"Great, 'cause…oh, this is a secure line, by the way. But, look, I followed 'em all the way out to Rodriguez Road-you know, that old cow trail outta town-A big adobe apartment building."

"Got it," Kendall said, hanging the phone up gently. "Get me Jack Bristow," he bellowed to his secretary.

Jack must have been standing just outside the door, because he appeared in the office and closed the door moments later.

"Yes?"

"Have a seat, Jack. I have a proposition for you," Kendall said.

"If it's about the arrangements for the Lexington's, there's a safe house in West Virginia that can house them for a few months, until we can get their aliases in place," Jack said.

"Good. But I wanted to advise you of the intel I just received. Antonio Verdes, you remember him? He's in Mexico City. He claims to have seen two of our presumed dead agents last night."

"As I recall, Verdes could function quite well stone drunk," Jack commented disdainfully. He paused, and his eyes narrowed. "Sydney and Vaughn," he said, not quite a question.

Kendall just nodded.

"This is a valid lead, Jack. I want you to go to Mexico. Officially, it's just reconnaissance, you understand."

"But Jeff and Misty…"

"Agent Weiss can handle that. If Vaughn and Sydney are in Mexico, I, for one, want to know why."

Jack might have laughed at Kendall if his thoughts hadn't been so similar. Kendall was such a badass, an immoral ass, and every other kind of ass in the book, but for some reason he had a soft spot for Sydney. He probably just didn't come in contact with many sixteen-year-olds, let alone sixteen-year-old spies.

"When do I leave?"

"As soon as I can tear a plane away from Langley."

* * *

The tiny apartment felt so familiar. He'd never seen it before, but the were little touches that felt familiar. The multi-colored huipil-like throw folded neatly over the arm of the warm toned beige sofa instead of draped across it. The simple topaz and silver frame, devoid of any tell-tale picture. An old watch set carefully on a high shelf.

The occupants would be home soon. Until then, why not kick back and enjoy the cheap Mexican beer in the fridge?

That was how she found him. On the couch, with his feet on her coffee table, with a bottle of the awful watered down tasting beer Vaughn had become so fond of in his hand.

"Dad."

Sydney's voice rang with defeat. She started for the couch, then detoured to the kitchen to snag a bottle of Vaughn's beer.

"How'd you find us?" she asked, dropping to the couch and taking a long swig from the bottle.

"Former CIA, tailed you last night," Jack replied.

"I knew it. Tell him sunglasses make a shitty disguise," Sydney said, her voice level.

"Sydney…"

"I go by Carmen here," she corrected quickly.

"Well, _Carmen_, care to tell me why you're still alive? Not that Kendall and I weren't delighted by the possibility, but to your son and your friends, you're dead."

Sydney shook her head slightly.

"I was protecting them," she said, looking defiantly at her father, warning him not to challenge that.

"You didn't answer my question. Let's try again. Why did you fake your death?" Jack said slowly.

Sydney took another long swig from the bottle, turning it up and emptying it.

"Khasinou found me. Found Alex. He threatened to kill him, then come back and kill Michael, because of me. He wouldn't have stopped there, either. Even if I'd disappeared, he'd still have come back for Vaughn…"

"Sydney, excuse me for intruding on your parental policies, but you abandoned your son."

"Dad, I unknowingly lived a lie for eight years. For ten years after that, I tried to convince my mother I was still innocently living that lie. I did not want my son to grow up like that, even if it meant losing his parents."

Sydney shot to her feet and paced until she stood in front of her father.

"Someone's threatening Alex now, or you wouldn't be here."

"Sloane has decided…he wants Alex now," he said hesitantly.

* * *

"Jeff, I swear, if you don't tell me more than you have, I'm telling Eric she was here."

Misty stood firmly in the doorway, staring him down.

"Miss, I told you this is Sydney's secret…"

"Sydney is dead, Jeff. And her mother, whom you both led me to believe was dead, was in the safe house that no one was supposed to know we were in, _insinuating that she killed some guy I've never heard of_. But you knew him, Jeff. Tell me why," she demanded.

Jeff paused, then put a hand to his head.

"Sydney was…she…Laura Bristow was an alias. Irina Derevko was Russian KGB, and the best Syd can guess was that she was an accident. When Derevko left, for some reason, she took Sydney with her and convinced her her father was dead. She was only eight, it must have been pretty easy. When Sydney was sixteen, the man she knew to be her mother's boss insisted she begin training. Khasinau wanted to train Sydney as a spy."

"Oh my God…" Misty muttered. "I knew…I mean, she was always…wow."

"Syd didn't get out of it until she was twenty-six," Jeff added.

"Wait…wasn't that when she…"

"She joined the CIA after Arvin Sloane tried to get at her by way of…" He paused, looked down guiltily, then met Misty's eyes again. "Me."

Misty's eyes widened.

"That car wreck…dammit, Jeff, you told me it was a car wreck! You lied to me, Jeff! Why! Why the hell didn't you tell me the truth?"

"Because you didn't know Sydney!" he yelled back. "If you'd known I'd been grabbed by Sloane's goons because of Sydney, you'd have hated her! And Syd was my best friend, Misty, and after all we'd been through together, I didn't want the woman I loved to hate my best friend!"

Misty shrank back, taken by surprise. Jeff never yelled at her. But it was true, what he said. She would have hated Sydney for putting Jeff in danger. Then. Now, having spent time with Sydney, and Michael, and Eric, she could understand. But then…

Misty shook her head slightly. Those three, and Alex, had become so much a part of her life that the thought of hating them, or never really knowing them, was just too much right now.

"I'm sorry, Jeff," she said softly. "You're right. But…you're still not telling me something."

"I've told you everything important, baby." He put a hand on her arm. "We'll be okay. Alex and Emily will be safe. I promise you that."

* * *

Hehe…heating things up just a little here. Jack and Kendall know Syd and Vaughn are alive. Misty is forcing her husband to fill her in on things that pertain to the well-being of her surrogate son, and proving that she is not the weak-minded character under pressure that I feel she was portrayed to be prior to this. And I just love the name Carmen. Don't ya'll? I just love it. That's a name for a future fic, I think…I don't like the name I use for Vaughn, later, but to me it seems kinda humorous…Next chapter, though! Review please! 


	6. Sun Streaked

Alternate Termination

Sequel to Alternate Existence and Alternate Infatuation. _Sydney and Michael finally had a perfect life. A real family with no lies. Friends who knew the truth. And then they lost it all._

Chapter 6: Sun-Streaked

Disclaimer: No, Alias is not mine. Nor is Sydney, nor Vaughn, nor Irina, nor Jack, nor Khasinou, nor Kendall. But Jeffrey is! He's all mine! No touchy!

A/N: I don't have a record at this point of who it was that suggested it because I've lost internet access, but I'm responding to the review suggesting Jeff knew about Syd and Vaughn…Jeffrey is innocent. The entire relationship between him and Alex iseven if only in my minddependent on his innocence!

* * *

Kendall snatched up the phone on the first ring.

"Kendall."

"They're here. Make arrangements to send the others. I'll have a facility prepared."

"Weiss too?"

"Definitely."

"Does she know they're coming?"

"No."

"Are you sure that's wise?"

"Not at all. But I have no choice."

After a short pause, Kendall asked, "What about him? Have you seen him yet?"

"Not yet. He doesn't know they've been made yet, either."

"Have fun."

"Thanks," Jack said dryly. "Keep me informed."

"Ditto."

* * *

"Where are we going, Eric?"

"Come on, Misty, I told you already. I can't tell you until we _get_ there."

"But I want to know where I'm taking my children…"

"Give Eric a break, Miss," Jeff laughed. "Look, Eric, you have to prep us for this, right?" he asked, knowing the answer.

"Yeah," Weiss said warily.

"So." Jeff spread his hands in a wide gesture for emphasis. "Prep away."

"Yeah," Misty chimed in. "May be that'll give us a clue."

"Well…" Weiss said meekly, shrugging. "How fluent are you guys in Spanish?"

"Spanish?" Jeff cried. "God…I took it in high school. Two semesters of _hell_."

"I loved it," Misty countered. "I took two courses in college, too."

"Good." Weiss nodded. "You're gonna need it."

Jeff groaned, and Misty looked concerned.

"Alex isn't a Spanish speaker," she argued. "He doesn't know the culture…We can't pass him off as a Spanish child. How can we send him to school?"

"You have to adjust. He has to. Besides, this may not be permanent. Kendall seemed to think this was just a necessary step."

"So, what, we may stay here just until we almost get settled in and then have to leave again?" Jeff asked. "What kinds of life is that for the kids?"

Weiss shrugged.

"I don't like this either, man. I'll probably never see any of you guys again. But if the choice is between inconvenience and keeping Alex safe, there's no question."

* * *

"They'll be here any minute."

Sydney paced feverishly.

"I shouldn't have allowed this. I should have run. What can I say to them? They'll be furious. They'll hate me. And Alex! My son! How can I tell my son his Mommy isn't really dead? And Vaughn…Michael's going to kill me! I have to call him!"

She lunged for the phone, but her father stopped her.

"They'll be here soon, _Carmen_," he said. "Now is not a good time."

"But he'll be home soon…I can't just let him walk in to…"

"_SYDNEY!"_

Jeff and Misty stood in the doorway, their scream more of a collective gasp.

Sydney turned around slowly, then looked up at them miserably.

"_SYDNEY!"_ Misty screamed, running forward and hugging her so hard they both nearly fell to the floor. Jeffrey was right behind her, hugging her so tightly she couldn't breathe.

Jack stood by smiling while Misty and Sydney cried and sobbed and hugged, and Jeff grinned and laughed and kissed Sydney's cheeks.

"Where's Alex?" Sydney finally asked, pulling away and holding Misty back by the shoulders. "And your baby?"

"They're with Eric, he's coming in a minute…"

Sydney turned Misty loose and began to pace, her moment of ecstasy past. The questions would come soon. _Why? Who? How could you? _But first she had to face her son.

She began to pace again, this time out of fear. Fear that her son would reject her. Fear that he would be traumatized beyond repair.

And then Weiss stood in the doorway. He had Alex by the hand and Emily in one arm, and he froze in the open door so quickly that Misty rushed forward to take Emily from him. Alex was laughing, but his smile faded quickly when he saw Sydney.

"Unka Eric," Alex said softly, twisting to look up at him and tugging on his hand. "You told me my mommy died." He scrunched up his eyebrows until two thin little lines etched themselves on his forehead.

"I…thought…she did," Weiss said brokenly, never taking his eyes off of Sydney.

Sydney hung her head, mortified. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't cry. She couldn't even move.

"Mo-…Mommy?" Alex said in a small voice, venturing a few tiny steps forward while still holding tight to Weiss' hand.

Sydney nodded, kneeling to be on his level. Se noticed he no longer lugged the ragged stuffed alligator he'd been so attached to a year ago. He held a red nylon backpack instead that he dropped unnoticed by the door.

"I'm sorry, baby," she said, barely managing not to burst into hysterical tears again. "I'm so sorry I left you, Alex."

She unconsciously held her arms out as if reaching for him, and Alex let go of Weiss' hand and flew toward her, throwing his little arms around his mother's neck and nuzzling his face into her shoulder.

Sydney held him close, her hands compulsively smoothing back his hair. She moved him away to kiss his cheeks and his forehead, then jerked him close again.

Alex was so confused he was just frozen. He was scared and happy and sad all at once. He just couldn't quite grasp it, that this was his mother who'd been dead until a month ago.

"Sydney." Weiss was inside the door now, swinging it closed with one hand and coming to stand over her. He gently pulled Alex away from her, as if his coarse agent's mind doubted her authenticity. He held Alex close, protecting him.

"Stand up." It wasn't a request, it was an order. She couldn't blame him.

Weiss studied the woman who stood not two feet in front of him, taking a step back to get a better look at her.

The woman he saw was tanned, more so then he'd ever seen Sydney. The height was right. Her eyes were the right color, that sweet liquid chocolate color Michael had fallen for so many years ago. Her hair was shorter and lighter, sun streaked and angled to frame her face differently than she'd ever worn it.

Weiss had seen Sydney in too many disguises to be fooled by the superficial changes. The haunting woman was, without a doubt, Sydney.

"What the _hell_…" he muttered.

"It was a setup," Sydney offered in a small voice. "But…" Her eyes darted quickly to Alex and back to meet Weiss'. "Now's not a good time."

"Vaughn…" Weiss began.

"He doesn't know any of you are here," Sydney said. "The cell phone service here is considerably lacking, I haven't been able to reach him since early this morning, before I found my father had broken into my apartment here and helped himself to a beer." A little of her characteristic sarcasm broke through the tension, even in the gravity of the moment, seeming to release them all from some binding spell.

* * *

Oooh…I'm having such fun exploring the extremities of these characters' personalities! Stay tuned, and, as always, please review! 


	7. Baby Sister

Alternate Termination

Sequel to Alternate Existence and Alternate Infatuation. _Sydney and Michael finally had a perfect life. A real family with no lies. Friends who knew the truth. And then they lost it all._

Chapter 7: Baby Sister

Disclaimer: No, Alias is not mine. Nor is Sydney, nor Vaughn, nor Irina, nor Jack, nor Khasinou, nor Kendall. But Jeffrey is! He's all mine! No touchy!

A/N: I know I said before that I didn't like the Spanish name I'd used for Vaughn, but I changed it. I like the name I'm actually going to use. I do. I just love it. I'm going to name my first born child this, because I just get this image of an adorably scruffy little boy, and Vartan tends to kinda have this scruffy image going from time to time…but anyway. Here we go. No, wait one more thing. Vartan has a movie coming out May 6th! A romantic comedy that looks like its going to be _hilarious._ And now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

* * *

Vaughn noted at once the strange black sedan in front of the out of the way apartment building. Barely outside of Mexico City, people came and went all the time. But few drove shiny new cars with only a thin layer of red dust covering it. 

He shifted his gun from the small of his back to his hip as he got out of his own dusty gray pickup. He'd spent the day eliminating any tangible paper trail left by them. Not because they were leaving, but because they didn't want to. They were…well, not happy, exactly, but content here.

He left his dusty black Stetsonwhich went without saying with the faded jeans and red flannel shirton his head as he skulked along the cool hallway to leave his hands free.

He could hear people, talking in low voices. It was unusual for this building after dark. These were hard working people that woke early.

Vaughn pushed open the door, gun in hand, to find Sydney blocking his from entering, putting herself in the door and holding it so that he couldn't see past her.

"Put it away, _Mateo,_" she said softly, stepping out into the dim hallway with him. "We have company."

"Company?"

"Sà. Mi padre es aquà."

"_What?_"

"I found him when I got back this morning. He told me there was an attempt to get _mi niñ o_."

"Is he okay? Jeff, Misty, are they…"

"Inside," Sydney interrupted. "Jeff agreed to go into witness protection, for Alex. _Mi padre_ got them sent here."

"_Inside_!"

"All of them." Sydney smiled a small, still disbelieving grin. "Eric, Dad, Jeff, Misty, Alex and Emily…"

"Emily…Misty's…" Vaughn trailed off and forced past Sydney into the door, his eyes wide.

The four adults sat around the living room. Misty and Jeff sat side by side on the sofa, Weiss sat on the arm of the sofa, and Jack sat stiffly in a high-backed wooden chair. The children had long ago been tucked into the bed in the single bedroom.

For a long moment, Vaughn just stood there, wide-eyed, with Sydney standing behind him with a hand on his shoulder. Nobody moved.

"May be we should go inside, _Mateo_," Sydney finally said, leaning up to whisper in his ear.

"Yeah," Vaughn said slowly, stepping just far enough inside for Sydney to slip in behind him and close the door.

"Mikey!" Weiss said, the first to launch himself from his seat at the new arrival. He caught his best friend in a bone crushing bear hug. "Man, it's you! You guys are really here!"

Misty flew up to hug Michael and kiss his cheeks. Jeff hugged him quickly, and everybody was talking, and the noise was so loud that nobody could really hear. Misty cried, and Sydney cried some more, and Vaughn even saw Weiss swipe furtively at his eyes a few times.

* * *

Alex rolled over, his sleep disturbed. He could feel his baby sister tucked in next to him in the bed. He was comfortable, but it was too warm, as if the air itself was heavy. 

He turned over again restlessly, kicking at the sheet. He heard voices. Lots of voices.

An' Missy. Unka Jeff.

He flopped onto his back and opened his eyes to stare at the ceiling.

Unka Eric. Gampa.

Mommy.

Daddy!

Alex opened his eyes wide and pin wheeled his arms to disentangle himself from the covers, twisting to make sure he hadn't upset Emmy before leaping off the side of the bed. He skidded into the hall in his socks and ran into the living room. He paused in the doorway, trying desperately to search out his daddy in the swarming group of grown-ups.

Vaughn saw his son before his son saw him. Standing there in the doorway in blue sailboat pajamas, his wide eyes confuse and frantic.

"Alex."

Vaughn's low voice stopped all the chatter instantly, and Alex's eyes snapped to his face.

"Alex!" Vaughn said again, breaking the spell and rushing toward his son.

Alex ran forward and met Vaughn to be scooped up and swung through the air and held close.

"Daddy!" Alex squealed.

"Alex, I missed you so much…" Vaughn said, crushing his son to his chest.

Emily began to cry, having discovered herself alone, and Alex immediately wriggled away from his father.

"Son, why don't you let Misty check on the baby?" Vaughn asked curiously.

"Emmy's my baby sister," Alex said. Then he stopped and turned around, wrinkling his forehead. "Isn't she?" He looked from his father, to Misty, to his mother, to Jeff.

"Of course Emily's your baby," Misty said, kneeling down by him and putting a gentle hand on his arm. "Let's go get her so your daddy can see her, okay?"

Alex smiled.

"Okay." He held Misty's hand and pulled her toward the bedroom.

Vaughn looked at Sydney to see her shaking her head.

They had a problem. Alex was going to be one confused little boy by the time the adults around him sorted out their places to him, let alone when he tried to sort them out for himself.

* * *

Syd slipped into the kitchen in the dark in the dead of night. Everyone else was finally asleep, but Sydney couldn't sleep. Her son's confused expression haunted her. All she wanted was a glass of water, then she'd go back to bed before she was missed. 

"Syd?"

She jumped at the voice coming out of the dark.

"Jeff! God, you scared me…what are you doing?"

"Same as you. Not sleeping." Jeff shrugged. "I'm just a little…this was _your_ life, Syd. All this isn't supposed to happen…"

Sydney touched his arm and motioned to the door that led out onto a tiny patio. She didn't want to wake Misty, who was asleep on the couch, or her father, who dozed in the armchair, or Weiss, who'd been as game as Jeffrey about a pallet on the floor.

"I understand how you feel," Sydney said. "Like crazy stuff like this isn't supposed to happen to you."

There was a moment of silence in which both took in the cool night that seemed to envelop them and separate them from the people still inside.

"I'm worried about Alex," Jeffrey finally said. "He's lost. He…Syd, you know Misty and I would never want to replace you and Michael, but in Alex's everyday life, we did. Miss and I were his parents."

"I know," she said again. "Vaughn and I both knew what we were doing when we…left. We didn't want Alex to not know who he was or where he belonged."

"Some parents we made," Jeff muttered.

"No, Jeffrey, don't think that. I had no idea Arvin Sloane would come after Alex, there's no way you could have. You had no choice. I'm glad you did what you did."

There was another long stretch of silence, and Sydney crossed her bare arms across her chest against a slight chill that came less from the breeze than an internal chill. The sounds of crickets and other night creatures reached them. A lone coyote howled in the distance.

"Your mother tracked us to the LA safe house," Jeff said suddenly.

"_What?_"

"She was there, right in the kitchen with us, before we even knew it," Jeff said regretfully. "She said Khasinou is dead."

"Why in the hell does she think she can ever show her face?" Sydney raved. "She knows as well as I do that I'd have shot her seven years ago, and I'd do it now!"

"She didn't go anywhere near Alex," he said quietly. "She claimed she could protect him from Sloane, but she didn't try to get near him."

Sydney paced away, off the patio and into the night, and back.

"I always drew a line," she said calmly. "Between Laura Bristow and Irina Derevko. Laura Bristow was my mother. Irina Derevko was an evil woman, a woman that, by the time I was nineteen, I more often than not wanted to kill her where she stood. From the time Jessie was killed, I progressively saw less of Laura Bristow and more of Irina Derevko. I like to believe that there's still a tiny bit of Laura Bristow left in that woman that might really want to keep my son safe." A small smile crossed her face.

"I hope you're right." Jeff paused. "She was…for just a second, when she talked about you, I saw her _before_ we found out everything."

Sydney watched Jeff, and could almost see him remembering. Carefree lives, when their biggest concern had been not getting a table at lunch. She could _see_ it…Jeffrey, with a huge goofy grin on his boyish face, teasing Jessie, who couldn't even feign being mad at him without a grin escaping…

"She's a dangerous woman," Sydney snapped, pulling herself out of what was fast becoming a painful memory. "This is how she pulls you in. I've seen her do it a hundred times, working together for the KGB. She gets you to trust her, to believe in her basic human kindness, then she gests what she wants and smashes it all."

* * *

Hehe…I just love that speech, don't you? I can just see Irina leading some hapless fellow to trust her, then, like, shooting him…And I love it! What do ya'll think of Vaughn's Spanish name? I love it, too. I just love this chapter. Review and tell me you love it too! 


	8. A Little Rusty

Alternate Termination

Sequel to Alternate Existence and Alternate Infatuation. _Sydney and Michael finally had a perfect life. A real family with no lies. Friends who knew the truth. And then they lost it all._

Chapter 8: A Little Rusty

Disclaimer: No, Alias is not mine. Nor is Sydney, nor Vaughn, nor Irina, nor Jack, nor Khasinou, nor Kendall. But Jeffrey is! He's all mine! No touchy!

A/N: I'm sitting in a tech class typing this, kinda wasting time, but the effect should be the same. I'm also trying NOT to get caught, so any horrific typos should be attributed to that. Crap, here comes Mrs. G...

* * *

Despite poor sleeping accommodations, the kitchen was teeming with people by sunrise. The smell of frying tortillas filled the tiny apartment, drawing even Jack from his post in the living room. Sydney had never had time for cooking much in her old life, just as Vaughn had never had a particular affinity for any sort of liquor, but a necessity to blend in forced her to, at the very least, master basic Spanish working habits. 

Her family was delighted with the breakfast burritos she fixed. An Americanized concept without a doubt, but so many things in modern Mexican society were that no one looked twice at a woman whose accents was so perfect.

Everyone, at least for a moment as they dove into the delicious smelling food, seemed to forget that they'd left their home and their possessions and everything they'd achieved behind.

Sydney smiled at the irony as she nibbled on a burrito. She'd given up so much and worked so hard to protect these people from the world she lived in. Yet here they were, perfectly okay even after having been displaced by her own irrepressible past demons.

* * *

As the mob dispersed, sated and content, Jack followed Jeff outside onto the patio. He looked, Jack noted, like the last thing he wanted was company, but there were things Jeffrey should know. Things Sydney had confided in a moment of defeat, that she, being such a controlled person, was not likely to repeat. 

"Khasinou threatened her friends and family," he said without preamble, as soon as the door was closed between them and the kitchen.

Jeff turned, surprised.

"That's why Sydney made the choice she did." He shook his head slightly. "She won't justify her own choices, but you should know the truth. Sydney was protecting all of you from Khasinau."

"Khasinau is dead," Jeff blurted, nearly as stoic as Jack.

"What?" Jack asked with undisguised surprise. "How do you know that? The CIA can't even track him down…"

Jeff held Jack's gaze silently for a long moment.

"I was contacted by Irina Derevko," he said deliberately. "Khasinau is dead."

Jack Bristow proceeded to do an amusing representation of a guppy before he managed to snap his mouth shut and walk away.

* * *

Sydney would once have reveled in the quiet, mundane task of cleaning up the kitchen after a family meal, but a year away from everyone they loved had quickly taught her and Vaughn to despise the quiet and the mundane. Sydney was grateful to turn and find Misty behind her, gathering plates from around the rooms. They worked together in silence for a long time, each uncomfortable with the other's presence. 

"I wanted Alex to know who he was," Sydney finally said in answer to the unspoken question hanging in the air. "I…I didn't want him to ever have to question that."

Misty paused in drying a heavy ceramic plate and looked up. After a moment, she left the plate on the counter and pulled out one of the two chairs at the tiny kitchen table.

"You're going to find this hard to believe, but I understand," she began, gesturing at Sydney to sit. "What's more, I understand why that personal identity is so important to you." Misty flashed a conspiring grin at her friend as she sat reluctantly in the other chair. "Syd, I know about your mother, about everything. I knew there was a lot in your past even before anyone told me anything. Jeff…" She shook her head affectionately. "He's loyal, you've got to give him that. Plus, he's got this misguided notion that I'm some innocent, fragile creature that need to be sheltered. My point is, I can understand how you feel and why you reacted the way you did."

Sydney would have argued that's she'd only done what was best for her son at the time, but she stopped when she looked up to find him standing in the doorway with a puzzled look on his face. His gaze shifted restlessly from her to Misty, and his forehead wrinkled.

"What, baby?" she asked.

"I want some apple juice." The puzzled look remained, and his focus continued to shift.

The reason become painfully clear when both Sydney and Misty rose.

"Sure, baby."

"Okay, sweetie."

Both on their feet, Misty and Sydney's eyes met, and Misty sank slowly back into her chair.

"Sorry." She grinned nervously.

Sydney quickly poured her son a glass of juice and sent him back to his father and Eric, who were entertaining him and amusing themselves all in one fell swoop, the details of which she probably didn't want to know. If her son reappeared blue, or purple, or missing limb, then she would worry about it. After she yelled at the ones responsible, of course.

"Don't even go there," Sydney warned quickly before Misty could apologize. "I knew what I was doing when I left, I just never thought I'd face exactly _these_ consequences."

"I'll back off," Misty promised.

"No, if you just back down all at once, Alex will feel like he's loosing one to get back the other."

"But…"

"No. just do whatever you normally would. We'll figure this out as we go."

* * *

Long after everyone else was fast asleep, Sydney was once again awake and alone in the dark. She sat outside on the edge of the narrow cement patio, her arms looped around her knees. 

It was painful to see her friends give up so willingly all they knew and loved to protect her son.

Misty had been right about one thing, though. Too many people tried to protect her because her entire persona exuded innocence. Sydney knew Misty to be a fierce fighter. It was unfair for her to be bent and broken by something so far out of her control, and so far out of the realm of her reality.

Ever as Sydney thought these things, Misty stepped out of the door and silently sat beside her.

"You're going to run," Misty said steadily after a moment, continuing to stare unseeingly into the night. "I can see it in your eyes."

"I'm not running away," Sydney protested in surprise.

"That's not what I said," Misty corrected quietly. "You're going after Sloane."

Sydney sat in silence, trying to decide whether it was best to deny it vehemently or brood that her friend could read her so easily.

"I'm not letting you go alone."

The calm, steady remark sent Sydney shooting to her feet, and she looked down at Misty as if she had just sprouted horns and a tail and now hovered three feet off the ground with the components of some dark ritual floating above an alter to Satan before her.

"Are you crazy? You're a _teacher,_ Misty! Have you ever even _seen _a gun?"

Misty snorted, a sound that did little to dispel the horns-and-a-tail scenario.

"Let me tell you a little about how _I_ grew up. My parents own a cattle ranch in Montana. I have four older brothers. My _mother_ taught me how to shoot one of my father's pistols when I was eleven so that, by the summer I was fourteen, I could move thecattle by myself without fear of wolves or coyotes. I took a martial arts class from the time I was five because I wanted to be able to beat up my big brothers." Misty stood and grinned. "They were a mean lot, too. The younger two, anyway. One and three years older than me. Whooped their asses out bythe barn oncewhen we were teenagers for pestering my favorite horse. My point, honey, is that I'm not defenseless," she concluded, deliberately slipping into her small hometown's habit of calling her friend _honey_.

Sydney nodded slowly, gradually turning her back to Misty and hoping like hell she wasn't exaggerating. If she was, even a teensy bit, this was going to be one hell of a black eye to explain…

She swung a quick punch around toward Misty's face, turning into it.

Misty caught and countered the attack automatically. Sydney twisted and used Misty's own momentum to spin her into an awkward fighting stance. Misty flipped Sydney forward over her right shoulder. Sydney rolled harmlessly and regained her feet just in time to feel a blow glance painfully off of her shoulder.

"I guess I'm a little rusty," Misty deadpanned as Sydney caught and held her wrist.

Sydney smiled through the darkness. While fear had always drove her through her sparring matches with the likes of fellow KGB agent Anna Espinosa, she found her impromptu match with her friend exhilarating.

"Okay," she agreed. "I believe you."

* * *

That wasn't too all over the place, was it? I don't think so. Don't ya'll just love the badass chicks thing? I love it. Girl power, ya'll! Now, review so I'll tell you how our girls fare against the perpetuously evil Mr. Sloane... 


	9. Nothing Left To Fear

Alternate Termination

Sequel to Alternate Existence and Alternate Infatuation. _Sydney and Michael finally had a perfect life. A real family with no lies. Friends who knew the truth. And then they lost it all._

Chapter 9: Nothing Left To Fear

Disclaimer: No, Alias is not mine. Nor is Sydney, nor Vaughn, nor Irina, nor Jack, nor Khasinou, nor Kendall. But Jeffrey is! He's all mine! No touchy!

A/N: s, I admit I just up and decided, "Hey, I want Misty to go too!" like a pouty four-year-old. And as far as Syd not letting someone else in on this plot, you gotta remember that in this fic Syd has tended to have to rely on herself, so she would feel responsible for all the people she exposed to Sloane, Khasinau, ect., and hey, after Misty pegged her on her intentions, what could I make her do but allow Misty to come along? It should be in, shoot Sloane, out, nothing to it, right?

* * *

The first thing Weiss noticed when he awoke on the floor was how quiet the apartment was. The kids were still asleep, and apparently so was everyone else. Sydney didn't clatter pans in the kitchen as she had the previous morning, and there was no alluring smell to draw him up. 

He rolled over and stretched, glancing around the room out of habit. Then he grinned. Looked like everyone wasn't asleep after all.

Jeff was sprawled hopelessly out across the couch, with Misty nowhere in sight. Weiss didn't hear her moving around inside, so he figured she must have been outside.

Vaughn wandered out of the bedroom a few minutes later, also looking around groggily as if counting heads.

"Where's Syd?" he yawned.

"Probably with Misty," Weiss commented, nodding toward Jeff's lone form as he hefted himself to his feet.

"Where's she?"

"Dude, do I look like I'm keeping tabs on your wives?" Weiss asked, laughing.

"What about his wives?" Jeff grumbled, slinging his feet to the floor and sitting on the edge of the sofa. "One of 'em's mine."

"They've apparently left us men alone with the kids," Vaughn said self-mockingly. "Syd's big on those open air markets. She probably just too Misty sight-seeing."

"Great," Weiss muttered. "Syd's taking _my_ asset on a _field trip_."

Emily started crying in her carrier in the bedroom, and Jeff rose sluggishly to check on her. Vaughn followed, though he used the pretext of checking on Alex. A MIA CIA agent couldn't afford to have a cute little baby girl smudging his image.

Weiss went to raid the refrigerator, and that's when he saw the note on the cutesy sheet of paper trimmed in red flowers held in place by a plain round magnet.

Don't worry about us. We will come home. By the time we return, we'll all have nothing left to fear from one Arvin Sloane. We love you all, and take care of our babies.

It was signed twice, one line in Sydney's tight, compact handwriting, and the next in Misty's wide, loopy script.

Weiss whistled low as he fingered the note, rolling the magnet in the other hand.

"Mike, Jeff," he called. "You guys better get in here."

He met them halfway, and would have smirked to see Michael with Emily snuggled against his shoulder if he hadn't held out the note.

"Your girls didn't just hit the market for some tequila, guys. They went after Sloane."

* * *

Nepal is beautiful this time of year, Sydney though sardonically, turning her back to the pouring rain she could see through the dark window.

"Are you sure you can handle this?"

Misty twisted her hair up and shoved pins into it to hold in in place under the short black wig she held.

"I'm as sure as you are," she replied calmly. "Sydney, Alex is like my own son, and I'm as ready to kill any bastard that wants to hurt him as you are."

"Okay." Sydney paused, her nerves more to do with Misty than with the mission she'd planned out. "This is the plan. Once we get into the party in the lobbythat's our ticket inyou create a distraction." Sydney gestured absently at two long, elegant dresses, one red and one navy, with far less than necessary holding them together. "Have you ever been drunk?"

Misty shook her head.

"No. Well, there was this one frat party…some guys spiked the…"

"Good," Sydney interrupted. "Be drunk. Call-for-a-straight-jacket drunk." Sydney made one last adjustment to the longer straight black wig she wore and pulled a maid's uniform out of a green blue duffle bag, along with a holster. "Keep your gun on you, but out of sight. Keep the guards away from their stations at least two minutes so I can loop the security feed and let you in the service entrance." She indicated the uniform she'd thrown across the bed. "Which will attract a lot less attention because you'll be wearing this. And you'll have the tranq gun. Less mess if we use that to neutralize Sloane's personal guards."

"Hey, Syd?" Misty broke in when Sydney paused for a breath, looking at the array of weapons and disguises spread across the hotel bed. "Where'd you get all this stuff?"

Sydney couldn't help a smirk.

"Remember I was a double inside the KGB? Well, Lina Derevko had some damn good connections. It's amazing how quick the suppliers are when faced with the prospect of a renewed alliance with a presumed dead contact."

* * *

Jeff, Eric, and Michael stood in a line across the living room, all staring at vaguely the same indefinite point in space. Weiss juggled a squalling, squirming Emily. Vaughn had soggy spit up stains on his dark shirt. A puddle of juice soaked the carpet near Jeff's foot, the glass Alex had just knocked over still on its side on the floor. Alex alternately tugged on shirttails and hands and whined that he was hungry. The room looked remotely as if a twister had hit it, or perhaps an 8.0 earthquake. 

Above it all, the smell of charred black and crispy hamburgers permeated the air, along with the slightest hint of smoke.

"I miss the girls," Weiss deadpanned as Alex began tugging on his shirt tail again, his complaints rising in both volume and pitch, putting him, Weiss figured, well on the way to a tantrum.

Emily let loose a new round of howls, and Alex continued to rise in volume, hopping up and down now.

"Whatever Misty and Syd are doing, I hope they're having more luck than we are," Jeff muttered.

* * *

Sydney moved nonchalantly toward the door, holding her champagne flute lightly. She met Misty's eyes across the room, and Misty staggered once or twice, gaining some disdainful looks from those around her. 

But getting herself arrested for public drunkenness would leave Sydney stranded. There were police everywhere, and Misty held no doubt that the experience would not be pleasant. She caught Sydney's eye again before she jerked suddenly around, beating at her back with her arms twisted up behind her head, screaming.

"Get it off _get it off GET IT OFF!"_

After a few moments, she let her legs collapse beneath her and fell to the marble floor, twisting and screaming. She lashed her feet around as much as the long gown she wore would let her, careful to keep the gun strapped to her thigh hidden.

"The spiders! I hate spiders!" she screeched. "_SNAKES!_"

Sydney smothered a grin as the guards were drawn away from the doors toward the quickly gathering crowd and the woman commanding the attention of every person in the sizable room. She slipped away unnoticed.

* * *

The security in the hotel sucked, really. She could see the cameras, even if she hadn't already hacked into the hotel's system and knew their exact locations, and could easily stay out of view of the cameras. Once in the out of the way and unmonitored janitor's closet she located easily, she quickly shed the navy dress to reveal a sleek black body suit underneath. Then she pulled a black ski mask over her face, allowing the ends of the long wig to flow loose beneath the reach of the mask. 

She slipped out of the closet, being careful to stay under or away from the blatant security measures. There was no need to invade the security office, as she'd suspected, to loop the feed; the control panel was at the top of the stairwell leading down to the basement, and who would want anything in that filthy place anyway? There wasn't acamera anywhere near the door.

Syd wrenched open the control panel and studied the colored wires leading every which way. She had better then basic training in this sort of thing, and this was a pretty basic system. She pulled out a tiny pocketknife and stripped two wires, twisting them together before slicing clean through the wire that fed incoming images.

Replacing the knife in the loop at her hip, Sydney headed toward the service entrance, hoping like hell that Misty would know when and how to get away.

Misty accepted the glass of water the security officer offered her with an unsteady hand, laughing nervously.

"Gawd," she drawled, allowing her voice to tremble a little. "I haven't had an episode in years. It's a disorder, you see," she said to no one in particular. "My therapist assured me I was cured…" She sipped the water with a wan grateful twist of her lips.

"Madam," one of the guards said in heavily accented English. "Perhaps you should see a doctor. Or could we call someone for you…?"

"Oh, no, don't be silly," Misty said, a quick trill of laughter following. "Ya'll have done enough. My driver is just out front. Thank ya'll so much, but I should be going." She stood quickly from the chair she'd been helped to when she'd finally stopped flailing hazardously.

As soon as she was out of sight of the dozens of pairs of eyes following her, Misty kicked out of the high heeled shoes she wore and began to run, ducking quickly into the back of the van she and Sydney had driven to change. Two minutes later, dressed in the taffy colored maid's uniform with the black wig twisted into a bun at the nape of her neck, Misty pulled the van up to the service entrance.

Sydney was waiting.

"You were a-_mazing_!" she laughed softly, hissing the words out to avoid being overheard.

Misty grinned.

"That was almost _fun_," she said, and then sobered of all such notions. "You know, if I didn't have a gun strapped to my thigh and tranquilizer darts in my sleeve," she added, indicating the fluffy green sleeves.

Sydney nodded, the focused adrenaline pulsing through her system reminding her of the mission at hand. She took the gun and darts Misty handed her.

On the third floor of Nepal's finest hotel, the two men standing outside of room 378 slumped to the floor almost simultaneously, landing with dull thuds.

* * *

I swear, this whole amateur sleuth thing? It was written well before the latest Alias episode. I swear I didn't copy it. Wouldn't have used it if I'd seen the episode first. Sam…well, love the character, hate that they had to put him smack in the middle of a damn mission. What, Syd can't go out to a bar in LA and attract attention, may be make a, God forbid, _friend_ that isn't CIA? Come _on_, JJ, throw us a friggin' _bone_ here! 

Okay, somebody review on the fic and stop me before I launch into a full account of the conversation I had with my sister during the episode…and I quote, "Didn't he _program_ her to be a spy?" In the middle of a scene of Jack killing an unimportant baddie that appears to return in next week's episode, but surely not…anyway, Syd was no where to be seen in the scene, so my sister was asking a stupid question, while I'm sitting there going, "_Shut u-…"_ Oh. Right. I'll let you go now…I'll try to have the next chapter up soon…


	10. Sharp Realization

Alternate Termination

Sequel to Alternate Existence and Alternate Infatuation. _Sydney and Michael finally had a perfect life. A real family with no lies. Friends who knew the truth. And then they lost it all._

Chapter 10: Sharp Realization

Disclaimer: No, Alias is not mine. Nor is Sydney, nor Vaughn, nor Irina, nor Jack, nor Khasinou, nor Kendall. But Jeffrey is! He's all mine! No touchy!

A/N: Brenda-wood, Jack is just gone. He went back to LA. That sounds like Jack, doesn't it? I couldn't force myself to change his character that much. After all, in this AU he not only found out his wife was a traitor, but she also stole his daughter and trained her to be a Russian spy. So, if he's odd…well, it's mostly intentional. And I loved having Jeffrey throw him off balance, too! Hehee!

* * *

She burst in without warning, an almost wild aura about her. For a moment, the activity in the room stopped, then burst into action again.

Vaughn shoved a curious Alex back and stepped between him and their guest. Jeff lifted Emily hastily off of her play mat spread on the floor. Weiss shot to his feet and darted a few steps in front of Vaughn and Jeff, shouting, "What the hell?"

"You shouldn't be here," Irina said, ignoring the frenetic atmosphere she'd created. "You have to leave. All of you," she ordered.

Weiss and Vaughn stared warily at Derevko, neither having a clue what to make of her sudden appearance. Jeff, however, was furious. He pulled Weiss back and handed him Emily and lurched forward threateningly.

"What in the hell do you think you're doing?" he demanded. "Get out. Now. I warned you…"

"You…what?" Vaughn and Weiss sputtered together.

Jeff barely heard them. Alex darted from behind his father to pull on Jeffrey's hand.

"Who's she, Unka Jeffy?" Alex asked curiously, a note of fear creeping into his plaintive tone.

"Leave," Jeff demanded again. "Now."

"Please, you have to listen to me," Irina said. "You don't have time to argue. Sloane knows you're here. He sent operatives. You have to tell Sydney…"

"Shut. Up," Vaughn growled. "Do not say another word in front of my son." Vaughn put a hand on Alex's shoulder and turned to Weiss. "Take Alex in the bedroom. There aren't any windows in there…she's probably got backup…"

"She's alone," Jeff said in a clipped tone, holding Derevko's gaze. "Just take Alex."

Weiss reluctantly took Alex's hand and pulled him away.

"What's goin' on, Unka Eric?" Alex asked as Weiss shut the door.

"Sydney went after Sloane," Jeff said as soon as they were out of earshot. "What do you mean Sloane has operatives here?"

"Wait, how do you know she's alone?" Vaughn broke in, a wariness overtaking him. He did not like to be the one out of the loop. The one out of the loop too often wound up with a bullet in his head. "Why are you telling her anything for? She's ex-KGB, Jeff!"

Jeff ignored him and continued to stare at Irina, waiting for her to answer him.

"Sloane found you. His resources…they're good. There are twelve operatives of SD-6 disembarking at the airport this very moment. You have to get out now."

Jeffrey looked at her, and for a moment that's who he was. Sixteen-year-old Jeffrey, looking at his best friend's mother, a woman who'd been nothing but kind to him. Then he was Jeff again, looking at a traitor of the United States, himself, and his best friends. But the sensation left him with more than a vague feeling of unease.

"And where will we go?"

"I have a place. But if we don't leave now, it won't matter…"

"Listen to her," Jeff said to Vaughn, turning his back on Derevko in a hopeful gesture of trust. "She's trying to protect Alex." Vaughn still clearly hesitated. Jeff took a step closer and said quietly, "Look, I grew up around this woman. I saw what she did to Sydney. I saw what her people did to Jessie. I know what she is, Michael. But I'm willing to trust her with this. That should say something."

"Jeff, she's a…"

"Man, we don't have a choice, okay? If Sloane's guys catch us here, there's nowhere to run. Are you willing to risk Alex's life on the idea that she's not really here to help? What does she stand to gain, Vaughn?"

"Somebody better start explaining…" Vaughn began finally, but Jeff turned away from him with sharp motions.

"Where is Sloane?" He asked Derevko.

"Nepal." A note that almost sounded like despair laced her voice. "Sydney will never get close enough to him alone…"

"Misty's with her," Jeff said harshly, almost as if it was a reassurance if present company hadn't known it to be a worsening factor.

* * *

Arvin Sloane glanced around his hotel room nervously, though he was really calm enough. It was a foreboding kind of nervousness, not of the paranoid sort.

The hotel security guard sitting across form him assured him the commotion down in the lobby had been nothing. Since he'd requested to be kept advised of security issues with a sizable tip, after all.

"Eet was just a radder teepsy, as you say, lady. She had a feet of DT's I tink," he said with a heavy accent.

Sloane nodded, but his instincts were all that had kept him from being murdered in his bed, literally, years ago, and his instincts were screaming that something was wrong.

An instant after that thought flashed through his mind, the door flew open to frame two figures. One wore a maid's uniform, and the other was all in black, a tranquilizer gun in her hand. The latter quickly dropped his bodyguard and the hotel security agent and turned toward him where he'd wandered behind his desk. He realized belatedly that the one in green had a gun trained on him.

"Sydney Bristow," Sloane said quietly, turning back to the one in black. He seemed far from shocked. "You were dead, my dear." He smiled, all the while reaching imperceptibly under the edge of the desk. "Welcome back."

The gun he held seemed to appear out of thin air. Sydney saw it only when it was too late.

"Gun!" she yelled hopelessly, throwing her weight into Misty. She heard the explosion, saw the thick red line tear across Misty's arm when the bullet grazed it as they began to fall, felt the useless tranquilizer gun slip from her hand.

Misty's gun skittered across the floor as they hit the floor. Sydney heard Misty's head crack against the floor and felt her body go limp.

And then Sloane was standing over them, and Sydney kicked, trying to draw him away from Misty as she scrambled for the gun at the same time. Sloane fought back, surprisingly strong. She could almost reach it, her fingertips were _touching_ it…

Sloane kicked the gun away and landed a vicious kick to her ribcage, forcing her breathlessly onto her back.

"We are destined to work together, Sydney," he said right before he clipped the side of her head with the butt of the pistol he held and everything went dark.

* * *

The house wasn't a mansion by far, but it was big. And grand. And…much better all around than anything used as a safe house had a right to be. Even if it was the only house for two miles on either side, it overlooked the western Panamanian coast, for crying out loud, right by a miniature inlet that would be ideal for a sailboat.

"Just one of the places I kept up with over the years," Derevko had explained when Weiss and Vaughn had pressed her. "One not even Khasinau ever know about."

Now she and Vaughn sat on the back deck, poring over more papers than most could get through in a month's time. Somewhere within them all was a loophole, a discrepancy, a back way into Nepal and to Sloane. Because if Sydney hadn't found one, they wouldn't be here now.

"Sloane probably has them already," Irina said nervously, which only served to further agitate Vaughn's irritability at having to work with a woman he despised. "They had no idea what they were up against…Arvin Sloane will stop at nothing this time, once he has Sydney…"

"Stop," Vaughn interrupted finally, sounding much as if he'd have preferred to wrap his hands around her throat. "Do I need to remind you that the only reason you're not dead right now is that I need someone to help me get Sydney and Misty back and you're my _only_ option? I don't have the kind of contacts Sydney made pretending to be Lina Derevko, and I need someone who does. I will _use_ you to save my wife, and I will still despise your very existence," he spit.

Irina stared at him blankly for a moment, hurt but knowing it would only serve to hinder their efforts to express as much. She just nodded.

"As long as my daughter is safe, and back with her family, I'm okay with that," she said strongly, betraying herself by implying it didn't matter.

Before Vaughn could respond, Weiss slipped out of the sliding glass door.

"Man, you should let me do this. You should stay with Alex. _I'll _go get Misty and Syd, and bring them home…"

"I have to go," Vaughn said in a strong voice that left little room for debate. "I have to help Sydney end this." No one noticed the little face that pressed itself to the glass door as Vaughn shook his head. "I wish I'd stuck around to help her when she and Jeff were just kids." His face lost the faraway look and crashed back to the present with a jolt. "Besides, I know some of these _circumstances_ better. I have to go."

Alex threw all of his weight into ripping the sliding glass door aside to launch himself at Vaughn.

"No, Daddy!" he cried, latching onto Vaughn's leg where he stood. "Don't leave, Daddy! Where are you going? Please don't leave me!"

Vaughn looked down with a confused, blank look on his face. Never once had he considered that his charging of to rescue Sydney would affect his son. What kind of person did that make him? Sydney was already gone again, and Misty too. Poor Alex couldn't understand it, with all of these people popping in and out of his life with no explanation. Not to mention the strange woman for whom nobody had shown anything but contempt, yet Alex knew they were in her house.

Vaughn kneeled, gently moving his son away.

"I have to go, Alex, but I promise you…" He paused, his voice catching painfully in his throat, and swallowed. "I will come back for you. I'll come back, and I'll never leave you again."

Vaughn hugged his crying son to him and the little boy wrapped his arms around his father's neck.

"What about Mommy? And An' Missy?" Alex sobbed. "I miss them."

Vaughn said nothing as a feeling of helplessness unlike anything he'd ever known pervaded his conscious thoughts, driving home the sharp realization that they might already be dead.

* * *

Ooohh…I just love suspense! Sorry it took me so long to post this…spring break kicked my ass…but review, and hopefully I'll have the next chapter up real soon! 


	11. Receding Hopelessness

Alternate Termination

Sequel to Alternate Existence and Alternate Infatuation. _Sydney and Michael finally had a perfect life. A real family with no lies. Friends who knew the truth. And then they lost it all._

Chapter 11: Receding Hopelessness

Disclaimer: No, Alias is not mine. Nor is Sydney, nor Vaughn, nor Irina, nor Jack, nor Khasinou, nor Kendall. But Jeffrey is! He's all mine! No touchy!

* * *

Her head throbbed, but it didn't matter. Misty slumped in another chair nearby. Sloane had probably drugged her.

Sydney leaned tightly against the ropes binding her wrists and upper arms and legs to the chair. Sloane watched her in silence for a few minutes before she even knew he was there.

"I always knew I was destined to work with the Chosen One," he said cheerfully, an ominous threat underlying the tone. "You could be made so much more comfortable, if only you'd cooperate."

Sydney railed against the ropes, surging forward in a silent message that, if she were not bound, she would kick his ass.

"Get this straight now, you bastard!" she screamed. "You threatened me, you threatened my friends, and you took _everything_ away from my family! I will _never_ work with you! _I will kill you, you bastard!_"

Sloane smirked quietly, as if her enraged screams amused him. Then he walked out without another word.

Sydney leaned back, forcing her tense muscles to relax into the biting ropes. She could see Misty, her wrists tied loosely to the arms of her chair, as if Sloane knew she was no threat.

"Miss, wake up. Come on, Missy, I know you can hear me," Sydney begged. "You have to wake up, Misty. Please." Sydney voice cracked and she realized hot tears streaked down her face. "I can't do this alone," she whispered, closing her eyes against the tears.

In desperation and with her eyes still squeezed shut, against pain now, Sydney twisted her arms against the ropes at her wrists, trying to get her hands on them. The tight ropes bit into the bare skin on her arms, stinging viciously. Within minutes, not only were her hands to slippery to grasp the reddened ropes, but warm trickles of blood ran down her arms, sending a chill up her spine.

* * *

There were officers. Dozens of them. One large room full of partitions, all empty. Just desks, many without even a chair. But the guns they held remained drawn and close to their sides.

Downstairs. Basement rooms. It was all so surreal. _Sounds…noise from a room…which room?_

It was all so surreal. 

Vaughn felt drugged, as if there was a hazy veil between him and everything else. He heard, he saw, but her felt nothing.

This room. Behind this door…

Vaughn paused with his hand on the cool metal or the door, Irina halting behind him.

"Agent Vaughn?" Derevko whispered, alarmingly close to his ear. "We must move."

Vaughn turned his head to glare into her eyes, which were unnervingly close.

"There's someone else in there," he snarled, turning the door handle.

His silenced gun left a bullet in a bulky man's chest before a thought passed though his head.

Blood, was his first thought. On Sydney's arms. Her hands. A spot on her face. It ran sluggishly from a spot near Misty's shoulder as she slumped in her seat. It spilled from the guard's chest to stain the floor.

"Vaughn!" Sydney gasped, pulling his gaze to her face, to meet her eyes. He saw something there that scared him, springing him into actions. A receding hopelessness. She hadn't believed he would find her. She'd lost hope, he realized. He watched as tears of relieved disbelief streaked down her face, blending with those of hopeless fear.

"It's okay, Sydney, I'm here. I've got you," he soothed, petting her hair between attempts to slice through the ropes that held her.

"No! He's still here. He'll just…" Sydney began to argue.

"Syd, there's nobody here, we…"

"No!" Sydney bolted from the chair the instant Vaughn had severed the last of the bonds. She took his gun from his hand. "He's here. Get Misty out, I'll be fine."

Vaughn rose to follow, but Irina stopped him.

"Stay. Get Misty out. I'll go with Sydney," she said in a tone that crossed between pleading and ordering.

Then she was gone, before Vaughn could argue.

Sydney heard her mother follow, but she didn't slow. Irina caught up to her anyway.

"There's only one way out of the basement," she informed, gesturing toward a hallway leading to the staircase she and Vaughn had descended. "If Sloane's still here, he'll be in one of the offices."

Sydney noted, as had Irina and Michael, that the building was eerily empty. She ran from door to door, busting in gun first. But she only encountered empty space and bare walls.

Irina followed suit, checking room after room of emptiness.

Discouraged, Sydney opened the door to the last office on the hall and froze.

There was Sloane.

As she watched, he thumbed off the safety and his finger moved to the trigger.

* * *

Vaughn examined the contents of the medicine case on the floor across the room from Misty. They had all the trappings for the best torture: three kinds of drugs to knock you out, truth serum, temporary paralytic drugs…and drugs strong enough to pull you out of an induced coma.

Vaughn grabbed a hypodermic needle and a vial of the latter drug and drew a dose he hoped would be strong enough to bring Misty around but small enough not to cause any brain damage.

He jabbed the needle into the arm still bound to the chair and stepped back. Who knew how she'd react to the drug?

Misty gasped a moment later, her body going rigid as one who's been holding their breath for a long time does when they finally get air. Her eyes slammed open, full of fear.

"It's just me," Vaughn said, quickly moving in to slice the remaining ropes. "Are you okay?"

Misty put her newly freed hand to her sluggishly bleeding shoulder, pulling a hissing breath through her teeth at the sting. But she nodded.

He saw her look around, disoriented.

"Where's Syd?" she asked suddenly.

"She's okay," Vaughn assured. "She went after Sloane."

"Alone?"

"No…" Vaughn hesitated, then met her questioning gaze. "With her mother."

* * *

"Drop your weapon."

Her gaze riveted on the finger that kept a firm, unyielding pressure on the trigger, she had no choice but to comply. The gun she held clattered to the pristine tile floor.

"Kick it over."

Raising her eyes to meet his, Sydney gave Sloane a look of pure, unadulterated hate. But she shifted in the doorway to kick the gun anyway.

When Sloane moved around the desk to retrieve it, Sydney moved slightly inside the doorway. As he leaned down to get the gun, she kicked, but he moved as if he'd known her move before she'd even made it. Before Sydney could recover, he had her twisted around with her back pressed flat to the top of the desk.

With more than a little fear beginning to cloud her thoughts, Sydney realized Sloane held the gun to her head.

"The first time we met, Sydney," Sloane said calmly, as if his hand didn't hold a gun to her head. "You were precious to my agency. You held a knowledge no other being could possibly possess. And so, because we couldn't risk killing you, you were able to escape. I don't know how you managed it this time, but it doesn't matter. What matters is that this time is different."

An evil smile on his face, Sloane leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"This time, if something were to happen to you, we can always find your son."

Horror gripped Sydney. She couldn't help it, couldn't move, couldn't breathe.

"Hello, Arvin."

The sudden voice caused Sloane to look away. The owner of the perfectly courteous voice held a gun trained on him.

"I warned you what would happen if you pursued my daughter again."

A surprised look took over Sloane's face.

"Your…"

The explosion of the .38 caliber round seemed impossibly loud in the small office. Sydney saw the rose-colored stain begin to spread over the white shirt Sloane wore, and moments later he collapsed onto her. Uncharacteristically horrified, Sydney shoved his limp form away and bolted toward the door.

The last sight Sloane ever saw was Sydney's blurry face staring down at him with an intense look of fury.

She was the infamous Lina Derevko, he thought around the pain as all other earthly sensation left him. _No wonder she got away so easily.

* * *

_

he thought around the pain as all other earthly sensation left him. 

Ooh, one more chapter and the prologue and we're through…I just still have to write the prologue…But I promise you'll like it. Remind me to tell you about the new idea for a fic that I had the other day…I don't wanna put anything about it until after the prologue…or you could just check out my bio…at the very end…


	12. Failsafe

Alternate Termination

Sequel to Alternate Existence and Alternate Infatuation. _Sydney and Michael finally had a perfect life. A real family with no lies. Friends who knew the truth. And then they lost it all._

Chapter 12: Failsafe

Disclaimer: No, Alias is not mine. Nor is Sydney, nor Vaughn, nor Irina, nor Jack, nor Khasinou, nor Kendall. But Jeffrey is! He's all mine! No touchy!

* * *

Jeff held Emily against his shoulder in the huge master suit upstairs that they'd decided would be safest because of its lack of windows. There were also two full sized couches in the room, which both Jeff and Weiss were content to occupy while Emily and Alex slept in the bed.

"I can't believe Michael let Irina Derevko go with him…" Jeff murmured worriedly. "Syd and Miss…they _can't _be dead, can they?"

"Shh!" Weiss hissed, gesturing toward where Alex appeared to sleep. But you never knew. "Syd's amazing," he replied softly. "Have you ever seen her in action? They'll be okay."

Weiss looked more closely at Jeff, and his tone change to one containing a little more empathy.

"Man, Syd's the best. And Vaughn's a genius at this sort of thing. And, while it may be unsettling, Derevko duped a CIA agent for eight years then disappeared with his kid without a trace. If anyone can get Sloane, it's those three. Syd and Vaughn won't let Misty get hurt in the crossfire, either."

Sydney stared down at Sloane's lifeless body and at the rose colored circle still spreading on his chest.

"You shot him," she said, a surprised tone there. "And you contacted him.. When?" She tore her eyes away from the sight on the floor to search her mother's face.

Irina hesitated, then opted for the truth. _No more secrets_, she thought.

"Shortly after you rescued Jeffrey from him right after you left the CIA," she admitted. "I didn't tell him you were my daughter, or course. I warned him that pursuing you at that point would prove deadly. I assume he believed me, because he hasn't made a move in your direction until he made a play for Alex."

Sydney started to speak, then stopped. A noise in the hall drew her attention.

"We should go," she said quickly, retrieving her gun and following at a trot as her mother led them out of the building.

* * *

"Syd…" Misty moaned groggily, rousing from a fitful sleep. She struggled to sit up and look around, but the room spun and her eyes felt heavy.

Vaughn moved to the side of the cheap motel bed and put a hand on her shoulder, forcing her back down.

"Easy. Be still, Miss. You're okay. Remember?"

"Um-hmm," she mumbled.

"You should sleep. You've probably got a hell of a concussion."

"Bu…Syd," she managed, slurring a little and getting frustrated with herself.

"It's okay, I gave you something to help you sleep," he said, reading the impatience. "And Syd knows how to contact me here. Relax, okay? Jeff will never forgive me if anything happens to you." He grinned at her comfortingly, but his voice betrayed his worry.

Misty wanted to stay awake, to worry with her friend, but the sedative Vaughn had given her was way too strong to fight. She slipped back into sleep, into the warm darkness where her head didn't hurt quite so bad.

Misty was in a deep sleep a gain when the knock sounded, a dull thud through the thick door.

Vaughn quickly glanced through the peep hole and opened the door only enough for the new arrival to slip in.

"How's she doing?" Sydney asked, glancing at Misty. She had an ugly bruise on the side of her head, but seemed to be resting comfortably.

Vaughn shrugged.

"She shows all the signs of a concussion, and whatever drugs those bastards gave her have had some side effects, but she'll be okay."

Sydney nodded, moving restlessly around the room.

"We can't stay here long," she said. "My mother is going back to take care of Sloane's men. Nobody will ever know we had anything to do with this."

"What about your mother?"

Sydney sighed.

"She'll disappear."

"For how long?" Vaughn asked after a moment, voicing both of their concerns.

Silence met his question, but he hadn't expected and answer anyway.

* * *

Weiss wasn't sure how he'd become the leader of their rogue strategy meeting. Perhaps because he'd been the only one in contact with Jack since he'd returned to LA.

"He still doesn't know about Derevko," Weiss commented, looking around the large kitchen table in Derevko's house at Sydney and Vaughn, then Jeff and Misty. "Or exactly what happed to Sloane. He suspects, but…"

"He knows I had something to do with his death," Sydney broke in. "And he'll probably hear rumors enough to connect Miss, but he won't take anything to the agency."

"So we still can't go back," Jeff said sadly. "Even though the bastard is dead." He looked at Sydney. "If your dad can hear things, so can Kendall. He knows you just as well."

"We cooperated…_conspired…_with a woman on both the CIA's and the FBI's most wanted lists," Vaughn pointed out. "It's too big a risk for any of us to return to LA."

"We have to do _something_," Misty argued. "We can't stay here."

Weiss spoke after a long moment of silence.

"Jack has proposed a way for us…all of us…to just…disappear," he said hesitantly.

"What?" Vaughn asked quickly.

Weiss shrugged.

"Information, essentially," he began. "So much of a paper trail that the people at the end of the trail become almost insignificant."

"Like a tree…" Sydney said thoughtfully. "The branches lead off in so many different directions that it's impossible to follow them all."

"So we could still be ourselves, and live normally?" Misty asked.

"Exactly," Vaughn said. "But we don't have the resources for a project like that. Nor would the entire LA field office."

"But one agent does," Weiss said, grinning a little, then sobering. "Jack told me he can gain access to a program capable of generating random information…credit card purchases, bank accounts, plane tickets, surveillance feed, passports, you name it…and planting it on an appropriate server when installed on a server with active hacking tools. Basically, every time anyone logs onto the server, the program generates bogus data, uses the system's own program's, and plants the data in appropriate locations, faster and more efficiently than a team of trained hackers could ever do. Apparently, the program can even create a failsafe in the data that deletes is after it's been accessed once, making it near impossible for a hacker to trace the data."

"And my father thinks is works?" Sydney asked slowly.

Weiss nodded.

"I'm game." Sydney looked to Vaughn, the Jeff and Misty, and finally back to Weiss, her eyes asking them all the same.

"I'm in."

"Me too."

"It's worth a shot."

"I'm up for it if you guys are."

* * *

And that's that. Now the epilogue…I love the epilogue! I had so much fun with it! 


	13. Epilogue

Alternate Termination

Sequel to Alternate Existence and Alternate Infatuation. _Sydney and Michael finally had a perfect life. A real family with no lies. Friends who knew the truth. And then they lost it all._

Epilogue

Disclaimer: No, Alias is not mine. Nor is Sydney, nor Vaughn, nor Irina, nor Jack, nor Khasinou, nor Kendall. But Jeffrey is! He's all mine! No touchy!

A/N: Thanks to everybody who's been a loyal reader since the start, and to everybody that caught up! I really thought this fic was going to fall through the cracks for a while, I've been so busy, and it's quick heartening and completely restores my faith in myself that, now that I've posted two chapters and an epilogue after weeks of nothing, all ya'll still reacted so quick!

* * *

She loved it all.

The bright, gay blue and red streamers across the dining room ceiling. The noise, the chaos of fifteen little boys, all crowded into the cozy room. The feeling of absolute joy she felt as she watched her son dive into the colorfully wrapped presents on the table.

She noticed one small box in plain shiny white paper that hadn't been there before. A slight sense of apprehension slipped past her resolve to enjoy her son's eighth birthday, a fear, as always, that someone would see her, would follow, would find them by her.

She was standing in the corner now, hardly noticed by the small boys. But Alex noticed. He, too, saw the plainly wrapped box, and, with it in his hand, he turned to search for his grandmother.

"_Abuela_!" he said when he found her, hugging her neck as she kissed his cheek.

He'd seen her twice a year, on his birthday and Christmas, ever since he could remember. She'd bring him a gift, and his mom and dad would get real nervous. They were nice and everything, but they acted as if his _Abuela_ were a threat.

Why _did_ he call her _Abuela_, anyway? That was Spanish, wasn't it? He and his parents spoke French and English, Alex thought, but he'd never heard either of them use Spanish.

Alex shook his head and grinned.

"What'd you get me, _Abuela_?" he asked, holding the box close to his ear and shaking it.

"Open it and see," she said, smiling at the French boys who looked at them in annoyance at their continued use of English they couldn't understand.

He ripped into the box excitedly to find a handheld videogame.

"Cool!" he cried, holding it out for his friends to see, then adding it to a stack already containing a computer game, a basketball, a regulation soccer ball, and a collapsible goal for the backyard.

"I should go now," she said, smoothing his hair affectionately. "My work…I can't stay." Alex saw her eyes shift to his mother and back.

"Sure," Alex said, suddenly uncomfortable. "See you Christmas," he said, moving back.

A sad look crossed his grandmother's face as she realized what she'd feared for years: her beloved grandson had finally begun to question her existence, his parents' attitudes, and his own origin.

"Perhaps," she said softly, turning to walk out of the room.

She paused by the door long enough to whisper to Sydney in indistinct Russian.

"He's beginning to question it," she said. "You must watch him carefully now."

"You shouldn't come back than," Sydney murmured, catching her husband's eye from across the room as he heard strains of their language.

Irina nodded. "I will contact you if anything ever comes up," she murmured, switching into French. "Tell Alex I'm sorry I can't be here on Christmas I'll send his gift."

* * *

Okay, well, that was fun. This fic actually wound up being longer than either of the others. May be it was the thought that, by ending this series, I was giving up my beloved Jeff. Admittedly, many other non-Alias characters I've used in this have been stock characters, people to kill off or to facilitate torture scenes. Jeff, however, was developed into a main character that I've grown quite attached to. May be if Rambaldi's Prophet doesn't work out, I'll do an Alex fic to add to the end of this series…Yes, I can see it now…Stubby little dark-haired Alex as a delicious nineteen year old Alex…lol. Great, now I've got a plot setting itself up…Well, I guess ya'll can expect another installment sometime. 


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